Introduction


Cornerstone University is a Christian institution of higher learning that aspires to excellence in everything that it does or represents. This includes our campus customs and how these customs relate to the best traditions of higher education dating to the first universities founded during the Middle Ages. The use of a mace as a metaphor for authority, learning and scholarship, and eternal values is one of the grandest traditions in the history of higher education.

The university mace, always present in academic ceremony, connects the current event with all that has gone before it. The mace becomes a symbol of the university’s roots and reputation and with each passing year adds an increasing emotional resonance to academic procession akin to the faculty’s regalia. The mace bespeaks commemoration, elegance, honor, pageantry, purpose, quality, solemnity and stability. Its presence helps convey the importance of the event with which it is associated. The university mace connects today’s students, faculty and staff members with the community of scholars who have preceded them and those who will come hereafter.

The inaugural presentation of the Cornerstone University Mace during Fall Convocation, August 24, 2005, represented another step toward Cornerstone University’s maturing as a truly excellent Christian university. The Cornerstone  University Mace ultimately honors our Sovereign God who gave to us the blessed gift of learning and revealed to us the source of Truth.

Introduction
A History of the University Mace
The Story of the University Mace
Telling a Story - Bottom to Top
Mace Bearer
Presenting and Displaying the University Mace
Expressions of Appreciation
A Word from Dr. Orpha Galloway

To request a brochure that contains the images and text found in this website, please contact the Office of the President at 616-949-5300 and request the "Cornerstone University Mace Brochure."